THE 1990 CAMPAIGN

THE 1990 CAMPAIGN; Birth and Life of a Political Ad: A Negative Message With Common Themes

By RANDALL ROTHENBERG, Special to The New York Times

Published: November 1, 1990

WARWICK, R.I.—
Bathed in the ochre hues of the City Council's chambers in this fading industrial city, a voter ambled to the microphone and attacked the Republican running for Congress as being "Ed DiPrete's handpicked candidate."

In Washington, 399 miles south, Peter H. Fenn exulted. His 30-second television commercial for John F. Reed, the Democratic candidate in the race to represent Rhode Island's Second Congressional District, had apparently worked.

"Certain phrases we put in a spot will resonate, like in a jingle," said Mr. Fenn, who came up with the idea of linking the Republican candidate, Trudy Coxe, with the Republican Governor, Mr. DiPrete.

This is the chronicle of the birth and life of that advertisement. Although it is specific to Rhode Island -- linking a Congressional candidate to a Governor whose popularity, like his state's economy, has been declining -- in many ways it is emblematic of political advertising in the 1990 campaign: It is negative, it responds to an attack and its themes are taxes and class warfare -- elements that define much of the political commercials on television this year. 'This Is Rock and Roll'

Observing its genesis shows that swaying voters is less an orchestrated symphony of manipulation than a last-minute improvisation of sounds and symbols. Or, as Mr. Fenn said in the middle of the frantic hour and a half it took him to produce the advertisement, "This is rock and roll."

The process began a week earlier in the campaign for the Congressional seat being vacated by Representative Claudine Schneider, a five-term Republican who is challenging Rhode Island's senior politician, Claiborne Pell, a 71-year-old Democrat who was first elected to the Senate 30 years ago.

In the second week of October the Reed campaign confronted a new television commercial for Ms. Coxe. In a scant 87 words, it accused the Democrat of missing 363 votes in his six years in the State Senate, but of voting to raise taxes and legislators' pensions. It ended with an ominous gong and the admonition, "Hit the road, Jack."

To the Reed campaign's protest that the candidate had, in fact, voted for $460 million in tax cuts during his term, Ms. Coxe responded: "That was in the mid-80's. He voted to increase the budget five out of the last six years, which led to two tax increases." The Philosophy: Attack and Control

Like most political consultants this year, the principals of Fenn & King, the Democratic firm representing Mr. Reed, took it as an article of faith that they would have to hit back. Their reasoning was not scientific; rather, it was based on experience.

In a videotape the firm sends to prospective clients, It says: "The lessons we've learned are, first, go on the offensive and dictate the campaign's agenda. Second, always answer an opponent's charge if it's determined to be effective. And third, counterattack and make certain you control the dialogue."

At 8:45 A.M. on Thursday, Oct. 18, Thomas J. King, a burly, 39-year-old former political director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, burst into the firm's unmarked Georgetown town house and began spewing lines he had thought of while driving to work.

"Sometimes politicians get confused," Mr. King said as David M. Woloch, a 1989 Cornell graduate who is the firm's production coordinator, took notes. "Take Trudy Coxe. Trudy Coxe is on television attacking Jack Reed for missing votes. The truth: Jack Reed has a 99 percent attendance record. Why the attack? Because Trudy Coxe supports another tax cut for the rich and powerful. Trudy, even in politics you should tell the truth."

At 9:15 A.M., Mr. Fenn arrived and was told about the need for a new Reed commercial. His immediate reaction: "Stick 'em with DiPrete." The Emphasis: Class Warfare

Mr. Fenn's suggestion had two sources. One was a series of thick looseleaf binders filled with research on Ms. Coxe's personal life and professional history. "The punch-counterpunch stuff is so immediate now that you have to have everything really ready," Mr. Fenn said. From the binders the consultant knew that Ms. Coxe's husband had been Governor DiPrete's 1988 campaign manager, a connection close enough to exploit.

A second source was polling. Few Congressional campaigns can afford the luxury of daily surveys. But a mid-October survey by WJAR-TV in Providence showed the Reed-Coxe race to be virtually a dead heat in a district that ranges from the seashore vacation homes of Narragansett to the hardscrabble wards of Cranston and Warwick. And a survey by Brown University in mid-September showed the Governor with an approval rating hovering around 20 percent.

Mr. Fenn took the script of the commercial and added in pen: "She supports Governor DiPrete's tax cuts for the rich and powerful."

This year Fenn & King has offered up class warfare in three-fourths of its 22 campaigns, most of which are for the House of Representatives. It is a far cry from 1983, when Mr. Fenn, who had been administrative aide to former Senator Frank Church of Idaho, established the consulting firm. In that year he created commercials for only two House races. Today 11 people crowd the firm's cramped headquarters, dodging piles of videotapes and taking a never-ending series of telephone calls from frantic candidates from Washington state to South CArolina.